Musette In D Minor
by Dark Nemesis 7
Summary: Tayuya returns to the Sound Village and decides to become as strong as Kimimaro. But when he disappears, Tayuya might be the only one who can save him. Full summary inside. TayuKimi. Ch. 8: The Eradication.
1. I'm Back!

Hey guys, it's me again. Thanks for reading my stuff. Oh, and if you were wondering where Dear Hokage went, FF kicked it off. -- I'll have to host the story on my site. Anyways! This sis my very favourite pairing, and I know that I am the first to think of it, or at least write it. - Enjoy, and R&R!

Summary: Once Tayuya returns to the Sound Village, she decides that in the lull of peace she will try to bring herself up to Kimimaro's level of skill. But when Kimimaro unexpectedly disappears, Tayuya might be the only one who can save him.But what can she really do when an intricate web of lies and deceit is uncovered?

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Tayuya had never dreamed that her return to the Sound Village would be this way. She had imagined a party. But all was silent. Even in Orochimaru's domain it was quiet. "Ah... Tayuya," he said as she entered the throne room. from what she could gather, Orochimaru was the only Ninja Village leader with a throne, but she didn't mind. She liked the idea of having a real leader, not some sissy hiding behind their stacks of paper in an office. When she saw him, she immediately bowed and said, "Orochimaru-sama... Mission-" "Complete, I know," Orochimaru interrupted. Tayuya looked up in surprise. She was going to say 'Failed,' but... "It's good to see you back, Tayuya," Orochimaru continued. "You're the fourth to return." "What do you mean?" Tayuya asked, confused. "Oh yes, your teammates. Well, this is how they are. About three days after Sasuke arrived, we sent out a search party and found Ukon alone. Kabuto also stumbled across the nearly dead Kimimaro. I'm sorry, Tayuya, but we never found Jiroubou, Sakon and Kidomaru." Tayuya felt her heart sink. "So you got Sasuke? And Kimimaro lived?" she questioned. "Yes," Orochimaru replied. Tayuya wasn't surprised. Kimimaro could live through anything.

"So, Kimimaro... You took on three of the brats?" Tayuya asked. Kimimaro nodded curtly. "Yeah, I would've won if I had been in shape and they hadn't freakin' double-teamed me. I figured that I had given you enough time, you being you, and..." Tayuya trailed off and glanced over at Kimimaro. He was listening. She blushed. "Well, I knew I couldn't beat them, not tired like I was from those damn Jounin, so I gave up and made it look like I was dead by holding the tree above my body with my chakra and biting my lip hard." "Hm," Kimimaro agreed vaguely, staring up at the ceiling again. Tayuya mentally cursed. She wished it wsn't so hard to talk to him, and the fact that he was lying on a hospital bed, breathing through a respirator didn't help. She subconciously fooled with his IV, thinking of something to say. He beat her to it. "Tayuya..." he began, startling her out of her thoughts. He hardly ever talked! "Tayuya... Thank you... Thank you for visiting me." "You-You're welcome," she managed, then, almost as an afterthought, interrogated, "Hasn't anyone else visited you?" Kimimaro looked at her again, and though he didn't show it, she could tell that he was confused. "No..." he said emotionlessly. 'Were they supposed to?' Tayuya could tell he was wondering. She almost felt sorry for him. She was the only one who ever came to see him. The rest of their team couldn't stand him, and commoners thought he was too much of a freak.

Ukon was having a nightmare. Tayuya could hear him tossing, turning and moaning all the way down the hall. "Sakon," he whispered, "Sakon." According to Ukon, just before he almost died from the knife-in-the-box puppet show Kankuro put on, he pushed Sakon out of his body in the hopes that he would live, for Ukon, not Sakon, had been stabbed. Then, with his last breaths, he had crawled off towards the Sound Village in the hopes of alerting others of Sakon's whereabouts. But when they found him, Sakon wasn't there. Ukon had been very quiet and clumsy ever since. Tayuya stuffed her head under her pillow and tried to sleep.

'In memory of me. In memory of me. In memory of me, dearly departed,' Kidomaru whispered. 'Why? Why did you die?' Tayuya screamed. 'He cries in his sleep, poor baby, now he's lost everything,' Sakon said sorrowfully as he watched Ukon beneath them. 'You need to spend more time fighting, Tayuya. Become as strong... As strong as Kimimaro,' Kidomaru said as he vanished. 'Tell Ukon... Tell him... We're okay... I miss him...' Sakon told Tayuya urgently as he disappeared. 'Wait!" Tayuya cried.

Tayuya woke in a cold sweat. 'Just a dream,' she informed herself. She glanced at her clock. 5:02 AM. Oh well. She might as well get up and train.


	2. Morning, Noon And Night

Tayuya walked into the Trainig Area swinging her flute in one hand and downing an Espresso with the other. If she was going to be awake, then she definitely didn't want to go to sleep. 'Wait, that came out wrong,' she mused as she threw the empty container into a garbage can. 'Become as strong as Kimimaro,' a voice whispered in Tayuya's head as she headed into the main body of the arena. It was, indeed, an arena, populated with trees among the sand. As soon as she entered the sparse forest, however, a dropped from a tree in front of her. It was Kimimaro. "Train with me," he murmured. "Kimimaro! Ah, uh, okay," Tayuya stuttered surprisedly. She just wasn't used to people who were supposed to be in hospital beds dropping down from the sky. 'But this is a good chance to get stronger!' she thought excitedly. She smirked and got into battle pose. "You may be strong, but I think I'll put up a hell of a good fight; I've been workin' on some new shit," she said. "Ah," he replied as he, too, prepared. "Start!" Tayuya yelled as she leapt into a tree and whipped her hands up to do a jutsu. Kimimaro jumped backwards, away from her, a few times before performing his seal second s before Tayuya performerd hers. "Abara Tsume no Jutsu!" Kimimaro called, and his ribs had barely ripped through his shirt before he had snapped them off and the bottoms had molded together to create a pair of claws. "Haridesasu no Jutsu!" Tayuya yelled as Kimimaro lunged at her. She smiled as he faltered. "How do you like that?" she asked him as she recited another incantation. "Fuuruto Dokuya no Jutsu!" Tayuya raised he flute to her mouth like you would a recorder and blew. Kimimaro barely had time to dodge as a dart zipped by his ear, then another and another. "They'll keep coming until I cancel the Jutsu," Tayuya explained between breaths, "Between that and the feeling of needles pressing into you every time you move, I'm doing pretty well." Kimimaro simply rushed at her again. "Hone Yoroi no Jutsu," he chanted and held up his arm. Tayuya watched in fascination as his arm bones became an exoskeleton as well as the traditional kind. Her dart bounced off it harmlessly, and Kimimaro slashed her across the face as she yelled, "Fuuruto Kodzuko no Jutsu!" and poked him hard in the cheek with her flute. Kimimaro paused. "Fuuruto Kodzuko no Jutsu?" he questioned. "Yeah, it's a poke in the face with the flute," Tayuya explained as they began to tussle again.

Just then the door to the training area swung open to reveal Kabuto, who shrieked, "Kimimaro! I leave you alone for a minute and you run off to train! Do you know just how bad it is for someone in your condition to be doing too much physical activities?!?" Kimimaro looked away from Tayuya and shrugged. "I don't care. I'll never get better if I don't train." Kimimaro's face was emotionless, but Tayuya could tell from his behaviour that Kimimaro didn't want to go back the hospital of catheters and IVs. The fact that Kabuto and him were enemies probably didn't help much. "Hey, chill Doc, I still have take Kimimaro out for lunch. Winner buys for the loser," Tayuya said, thinking quickly even though Kimimaro had been winning. "Good. You can pick him up at the hospital in six hours, since it's six in the morning now," Kabuto decided as he pulled Kimimaro out of the tree and led him back to the Infirmary.

"Well, Tayuya, I'm not sure if I should trust Kimimaro with you, but I'll give you one chance. You may only have him out until one-thirty in the afternoon, though, you understand?" Tayuya nodded borely. "Can I freakin' go yet, 'Doctor?'" Kabuto rolled his eyes. "Yes. Be careful with him, and he can't have anything alchoholic, drug-induced or too hard to chew and digest. No Coca-Cola either." Now it was Tayuya's turn to roll her eyes. "Whatever."

"Hmm... I'll take a BLT with iced tea, and he'll have...?" Tayuya asked Kimimaro as the waitress took their orders. "Friut Salad and Apple Juice," he stated. "'Kay," the waitress said as she left the two of them alone. There was silence for a minute, then, "Tayuya." The latter looke dup, startled. "What?" she asked. "Thank you. For lying to Kabuto to get me out of that... Hellhole," Kimimaro monotoned. Tayuya smiled lopsidedly. "Hey, don't worry about it, you've been in the hospital enough in your life," she said. Kimimaro looked down solemnly and said nothing. 'Wrong thing to say?' she asked herself mentally. Just then the waitress returned. "Here's your food," she explained as she placed their respective dishes and drinks in front of them. "Thanks," Tayuya said as she dug in. Kimimaro ate a bit too, but almost reluctantly. Tayuya glanced up at him and noticed the finicky way that he was eating. "You okay?" she asked. He paused a bit before answering. "I am fine," he said at last. "Okay," Tayuya said warily and she watched him as she ate. Either he didn't notice her or pretended not to, she decided, because he kept his head down the whole meal, and at length he finished. "I am done," he informed her. Tayuya, who had drunk his apple juice and paid their bill waiting for him, nodded. "Okay then, let's bring you back now, then." "No!" Kimimaro objected suddenly. "No," he said, calmer, "We still have forty-five minutes. Let's do something until one-thirty." 'How did he know what time it is? There are no clocks around here,' Tayuya wondered.

"Why did you choose the park?" Tayuya questioned Kimimaro, who simply shrugged and wandered around the area, a void expression on his face. After a bit he stopped ina sunny patch near some trees and lifted up his arms in front of him. Tayuya then watched, amazed, as seven to ten birds landed on Kimimaro's head, shoulders and arms. He murmured a bit to them, then moved slowly and smoothly to pet them with the tips of his fingers. He stood there, muttering to them, for another ten minutes (Tayuya watching all the while) before the flew off. Kimimaro observed them, then noticed Tayuya and turned to her. "I never knew you liked birds," she remarked. He shrugged. "Thay are not like humans. Their llives may be short, bet they are bound by nothing. Not by chain, not by pact, not by family." Immediately Kimimaro closed his eyes and bowed his head slightly. "I am sorry. I was rambling," he explained as he lifted his face again. The sun glinted off of his olive green eyes and shone on his pure white hair, making him look... Well, angelic, what with his white robe and all, Tayuya decided. "Hey Kimimaro, we'd better start heading back now," she stated.

"Thank you for bringing him back on time, Tayuya," Kabuto said as he opened the door to the private room for Kimimaro. "No fuckin' prob," she said while she watched through the window as Kimimaro unzipped his shirt. Kabuto glanced in to see what she was looking at and turned her around, a cattish smile his face. "So, you like Kimimaro better with Windows on his laptop, eh? Does he make you want to vomit out little chocolate hearts, Tayuya? Even though his wheel's spinning, but the hamster's dead?" he asked. "No, I was just wondering what he would do after I dropped him off," Tayuya explained with her teeth clenched and barely resisting the urge to pound Kabuto into the ground. However, she knew that Kabuto had noticed her blushing.

"I'm home!" Tayuya called as she walked into the house that she shared with her teammates.Ukon wandered over to look at her, then passed into the kitchen with a dull look on his face. There were bags under his bleary eyes and his skin was pale. Ukon's hair was also hanging limply and was greasy. "I'm getting pizza tonight," she informed him as he leaned against the wall. "Yeah. Sure. Whatever," he replied flatly. Tayuya sighed, walked up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Ukon, are you okay?" she asked, even though she knew the answer. But if he said yes, then he was trying to pick himself up again. But if he said no, then... "No," he replied, pushing off from the wall and beginning to walk away. "Ukon, I miss Sakon too," Tayuya confided as she followed him into the living room. Ukon stopped and shoulders started to shake. "He was all I had, Tayuya, all I had left," he said as his voice caught in his throat. The girl in question wrapped her arms around his ribs and slowly rocked him back and forth. "I know," she answered, "But you have to have fuckin' hope to hell that he's alive." Now Ukon's knees began quaking. "How can I? He.. He was gone! And it's my fault that he died! If I hadn't been so clumsy, then I would still have a brother. Tayuya, you don't know what we went through together. If I hadn't had him, I don't think I'd be here now. He let me share his body when I was too injured to live off of my own Chakra, and hell, I still don't have it all back! When our parents died, he wouldn't let me see, you know? I can't remember their deaths. He can. After that, Sakon was the only family I had to cling on to. And now he's gone! They say that twins have special bonds, that one can feel whath the other's feelling, well, I sure feel dead." Tayuya turned Ukon around to face her. "Ukon," she questioned, "How did you react when they told you that they couldn't find Sakon?" "I didn't believe it... I just got more and more depressed," he confided. "Did you cry?" "No." "Well then, that's your problem," Tayuya cited. "You should cry for him. Go on, do that now. Let it all out," Tayuya commanded. Ukon shook his head. "Sakon wouldn'tve wanted me to cry," he explained.

This time it was Tayuya who wasn't sleeping properly. In fact, she wasn't sleeping at all. She was too busy remembering Sakon. 'He was my best friend...' Tayuya kept thinking as the memories swirled around. 'Tayuya, look what I found!' a giggling five year old boy with shoulder length hair said as he handed her some candy. She could remember smiling. She could also remember Ukon in tow, Sakon grasping his left hand with his right -- a strategy the two had developed so that they had their better hands free, but were still in contact with each other. Sakon had been clingier than Ukon, Tayuya decided. He would often sneak into Ukon's room to sleep beside him, even into their teen years. As children, they went so far as to such on each other's thumbs during bedtime. Tayuya could remember more than once tiptoeing into the room of whoever was originally sleeping in the bed there and tying the twins' hair together into knots, each one tighter and more intricate than the next. In a way, looking back on it, the knots could symolize how close the boys were.

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What do you think? Tayuya was going to reminisce about Sakon sooner or later. A little too much? Oh well. In this story, the characters won't get much chance for reminiscing. --


	3. Moving In Again

Thank you for your reviews, each of them made my day in it's own way!

krn-kimbap: Thanks for reviewing, you are so awesome. -

Gaarasand: You don't even rave to review to get a shout out. All hail Gaarasand.

HinatasBiggestFanboy: The only person that I can find as OOC is Ukon, and wouldn't you be OOC too if your best friend and only relative died suddenly? With Tayuya, I can't find enough ways to integrate cursing into her speech and this is virtually how I perceive Kimimaro.

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Tayuya woke up, to her surprise, with Ukon huddled up beside her. He had his back to her and was sleeping soundly. 'He sure is lonely,' Tayuya thought as she carefully got up and grabbed her clothes to get changed in the bathroom.

When Tayuya got down to the kitchen, she discovered that she was not one of two but one of three people in the house. Kabuto was pouring milk into some Fruit Loops at the table. "Hey bastard, what are YOU doing here?" she asked angrily. Kabuto leaned back in his chair and smiled at her through half closed eyes. "Well, Orochimaru told me to tell you that we're moving Kimimaro in here today and I just decided to have breakfast while you slept." "Gee, thanks, suddenly I wonder who else comes sauntering into my house in the middle of the night," she said sarcastically. "I also came to check out your house for the living conditions -- I suppose we'd have to fix up his bedroom and get rid of that Leaning Tower of Pizza you've got there," he replied as he eyed the stack of take-out boxes in the corner of the kitchen. Tayuya rolled her eyes. "Whatever you do here, be quiet, because this is the first good sleep Ukon's had in a while." "Ah, yes, didn't Sakon have a sleeping problem of some sort? Wasn't Ukon narcoleptic for a bit after the accident, too?" Kabuto questioned rhetorically. "Anyways, we think we'll have Kimimaro in here by 7 PM tonight if things go right. Now, Tayuya, come with me and we will take a look at the state that his room is in," he continued as he placed his bowl in the dishwasher and headed off with Tayuya in tow.

The sixties style wooden door to Kimimaro's room opened with an audible creak and Tayuya and Kabuto walked in. Everything in the room was layered in dust, and Tayuya felt like she was intruding. "When was he last in here again...?" Kabuto pondered aloud to himself while he closed the door behind them. "When he was fourteen," the kunoichi beside him recited. "Three years, then," Kabuto muttered as they surveyed the room. Kimimaro didn't like people getting into his stuff, Tayuya knew, so she hadn't been in here very often. He had painted the walls white and the window was painted a bit too, though he had placed blinds over it and there were scratch marks from human fingernails on the paint. The white dresser did not have much on it, but what it did hold was intriguing, a notebook being one of the things. His bed was made from simple iron with white bedsheets, which were still neatly folded back from the last use. On the metal bedside table, there was nothing but a bottle of shampoo and another of conditioner, plus a white candle. On an iron chair beside the dresser there lay an orderly pile of clothes, arranged with the shirt on top, underwear beneath that, pants soon following, and touching the chair would be a roll of bandages. Under the chair there lay a pair of sandals. None this would fit Kimimaro now, these were the clothes that he would've worn when he was fourteen. "Damn," Tayuya said, breaking the silence. "Let's clean this place up," Kabuto decided.

Kabuto dusted while Tayuya put stuff away, namely the clothes. Beneath her fingers they were coarse. Were they always this way, or had this been an effect of time? Tayuya couldn't tell. The bandages almost fell apart beneath her fingers as she placed them in the dresser with the sandals sitting on the pile when she had finished. For a bit, she helped Kabuto by getting things, but other than that there was nothing, and so, without thinking about it, she sat on the bed and put one hand beside her thigh and with the other leaned on the pillow. Suddenly, from beneath the pillow, she heard a crack. After checking to see that Kabuto was occupied with something else, she stealthily reached under the pillow to feel two hard, cold objects. When she pulled them out, she found that they were photographs in frames. One was of their team when they were younger, maybe eleven or twelve. This was the one that she had cracked. Tayuya studied the picture. Ukon and Sakon were giving each other bunny ears. Kidomaru was giving everyone bunny ears, even himself. Jiroubou was rolling his eyes at the former three's immaturity. Tayuya herself was double-deucing the camera. Kimimaro was standing there, stoically, not smiling and near to the edge of the picture. Tayuya put that picture back and looked at the other one. It was bent, yellowing and looked as though someone had carried it in their pocket for a year or two, but you could still see the scene reasonably well. There were a woman and a man near the top, expressionlessly facing the camera. In the bottom row, beneath the man and woman, were three more people. In the left there was a girl, about twelve, staring down at the camera, almost daring it, without any words. In the right there was a boy, about nine, who looked lifelessly at the picture-taking device. However, the whole picture was not as solemn. In the very middle there was a small boy, about three or four, smiling smally and waving. His eyes were shiny, and even though the photo was black and white, you could almost see the colours that would illuminate his tiny thin body. Maybe Tayuya was just imagining the colours, though, because she already knew them. His hair was white, like his clothes, and he had two red dots on his forehead, just above his green eyes. 'Kimimaro...' she thought sadly as she looked at the picture. 'This is what you were...' "Hey what'cha got there?" Kabuto asked as he approached the girl sitting on a Kaguya's bed. "Nothing," she lied as she shoved the photograph back under the pillow, "But I think Kimimaro may have had lice. That's one heck of a whatever that is." "Tayuya... That's a rock."

"Be careful with him....TAYUYA!!!" Kabuto cautioned, then yelled. Tayuya, who was supporting Kimimaro, had subconsciously run the poor boy right into a wall. "Sorry," she said defensively. Kimimaro didn't even blink, much less rub his wound. He simply let her guide him past the wall and into his room, where Kabuto bade him to lie on the bed. "You stay there for a day, and don't leave unless you have to use the bathroom. Tayuya, you stay with him the whole time, and if he goes to the bathroom, wait outside the door." Tayuya looked at Kabuto appraisingly, wondering how many times she would have to hit him to beat his smirk into a bloody pulp. "Okay," she said instead. Kabuto nodded and continued, "Kimimaro is to have nothing to eat until 8:00 tomorrow morning but a glass of water, and just 1. At 8:00, serve him a Five Alive juice box and a Bean & Spinach smoothie. At 12:30, serve him bread dipped in carrot yogurt, and at 6:00 give him a Raisin & Prune Milkshake. At 9:30, he must eat Onion and Pickle ice cream. I have the food already made in your refrigerator." "You sure you're healing instead of killing him?" Tayuya asked with a look of disgust on her face. Kabuto rolled his eyes. "Be good," he said as he left, but, thinking twice, he turned to her again with a cat-like smile on his face and said, "Oh, and in case you're thinking of it, he hasn't healed well enough for any kinky sex positions." With a yell, Tayuya lunged towards Kabuto with and outstretched fist, but made contacted with the door he had quickly shut instead. She could hear him laughing as he ran down the hall while she slid to the floor.

Standing up, Tayuya turned to look at Kimimaro and realized that he was watching her. "Heh heh... Did you hear what that shithead said?" Tayuya asked nervously. Kimimaro shook his head once to each side. "Good. I'm, uh, going to go get my blankets so I can fuckin' sleep when you go to bed." She quickly exited the room. 'I am _so_ glad that he didn't hear that... Kabuto that bastard I'm going rip his fucking head of and shove it up his ass!' she thought as she retrieved her blankets.

When Tayuya returned to Kimimaro's bedroom, she saw that he had already changed into his pajamas and felt slightly let down for some reason. He had sat himself on his bed and closed his eyes, and if Tayuya hadn't just been in here, then because of his stillness, she would've thought he was dead. In fact, he was so motionless that Tayuya remembered how sick he had recently been (Kabuto had said that the illness was for some reason nearly gone) that she had to go over there and check. "Kimimaro..." she said softly, then, not waiting for a reply, grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him hard, yelling, "DON'T GO AND DIE WHILE I'M BABYSITTING YOU!" Kimimaro didn't even flinch. When Tayuya stopped shaking him, he opened his eyes slowly and looked up at her. "I am not dead..." he murmured. "You will be if I have to shake you again," the kunoichi responded under her breath. Kimimaro looked up at her with his hands folded neatly on his lap and she couldn't help but wonder why he wore such strange pajamas. "Kimimaro, why do you wear a nightgown?" she asked bluntly. "It is a robe," he replied simply, and Tayuya decided not tot make him elaborate. His 'robe' was pure white (like his hair) and was held together with a belt, like a bathrobe. She sighed and sat beside him on his starched white bedsheet bed. "What are you going to do?" she questioned. "Sit," he stated. Tayuya blinked. "Sit? That's all?" she asked. He nodded. "Shit," she breathed, "You live a more boring life than I had originally thought." Kimimaro didn't even seem to notice her comment. He stood up and took her covers from her, then wordlessly made her bed on the floor and turned around so as not to face her. "You may get changed now. I am ready for sleep." 'At eight thirty?' she thought disbelievingly. Once she was done changing she decided to surprise Kimimaro and picked him up bridal style. His feathery hair touched her fingers slightly as she dropped him onto his bed. "Goodnight," she said, smirking. Kimimaro looked up at her without emotion. "Dream well," he replied tonelessly.

It had been ten minutes since they had turned out the lights, but neither had gotten to sleep. Tayuya shifted her eyes over to Kimimaro. He had his eyes half open and the moonlight coming through the window (Tayuya and Kabuto had scraped the paint off) reflected off of his eyes. Somewhere in there there must be some sort of emotion, she mused, but he always hid it. You had to be pretty Kaguwise to penetrate his barrier even slightly, and Tayuya was proud to say that she had mastered it the most. If you horribly surprised him in a way repeatedly you might get to know the miniscule cracks in his mask. Not that it cracked often. In fact, Tayuya hadn't seen him crack in quite a while now. Maybe it was time to re-establish her place as all-annoying....


	4. Movies And Monopoly

Just a note, this story may be easier to unerstand if you read the companion fic, soon to be fics. Anyways, enjoy!

-

_Her cheek stung as she cowered in the corner, away from the two loud voices overhead. "You're a no good bitch! You'll never amount to anything if you don't behave!" the female shrieked. "If only we had had more money- then we wouldn't have been stuck with her and could've gotten a good abortion instead of just using a coat hanger!" the male yelled as he whipped her with a belt. All she could do was hurl curse words at the people there while they whipped her with a belt and its silver buckle, which bit into her back and made her swears louder and more colourful. She shivered but did not cry as blood ran in streams down her back. Finally, when there was a pause in the whipping, she jumped up and ran for it. "He's getting away! **He's getting away!**" The woman shouted. "He?" the runner asked themself._

Tayuya woke up suddenly to see Kimimaro with his hand on the doorknob, ready to leave the room. "And just where the fuck do you think you're going?" she asked him loudly as she sprung up and knocked his hand away from the doorknob. "The bathroom," he answered. "I did not wish to wake you." "Well, it's my job now to follow you there! So let's go!" Tayuya declared and opened the door. Kimimaro looked at her for a minute, then walked with her to the bathroom. They were silent on their way to the lavatory, and when they got there, Kimimaro watched Tayuya intently until she understood what he meant by his stare and sat down across the hall from the door. "Go," she said, thinking, 'He's shy of being heard. Wonder where he got that.' Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of 'water running.' Tayuya blushed crimson and tried to divert her mind, but it stayed firmly on course, laughing at her and saying, "He REALLY had to go, didn't he?" Tayuya suddenly got a vivid picture of Kimimaro using the latrine in her mind. She frantically shook her head and muttered, "Get out of my head!" just as the boy in question emerged from the bathroom. He raised his eyebrows, but didn't question her. Instead, he turned and walked back to his room, knowing that she would follow.

It was Tayuya's turn to watch stalkerishly as Kimimaro settled back into bed. He breifly looked over at her, then simply faced the ceiling and closed his eyes. Inwardly sighing, she rolled over and fell back asleep.

_Kimimaro watched Tayuya as she instructed him. "You put a tutu on like THIS!" she expalined. He nodded solemnly and began to dance. Ukon suddenly appeared and danced with him. But they weren't able to dance for long because Orochimaru came in with a plate full of maggots, singing, "Oxford Laaaaaaarvitz! Come and lick a laaaaarvitz! Buy'em, sell'em, trade'em, eat'em!" Then he ran his tongue over his teeth. "I'll take two," Ukon said as he led Kimimaro by the arm to the display. Tayuya could only watch in horror as Ukon gobbled the whole plate down. Suddenly Kidomaru ran in, yelling, "No! The king is dead!" and cut off Ukon's head, which Orochimaru put on his plate and tried to sell. Kimimaro lifted it off, maggots from the plate crawling on it, then thrust it at me, saying quietly, "Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep."_

"Holyshitwhatafuckedupdream," Tayuya said as she sat up and turned off her alarm clock, which she had brought to Kimimaro's room. "Was your sleep satisfactory?" Kimimaro asked from his bed. "Oh, you're awake," she stated as she sat up. "Yeah, it was fine. What about yours?" Kimimaro nodded solemnly. "Satisfactory. I must eat now." Tayuya stretched. "What were you supposed to eat again?" "A Five Alive juice box and a Bean and Spinach smoothie." "That's crap! I'll make you breakfast," Tayuya cried indignantly. Kimimaro shrugged. "Do what you will."

Tayuya did. Five minutes later found them in the kitchen, still in their pajamas, with Tayuya making Kimimaro some sort of mashed fruit thing. "If you're supposeed to eat vegetables, then so be it," she explained. Kimimaro observed her making breakfast, and for a split second she thought she saw a raw and intense emotion in Kimimaro's eyes. The feeling passed, but she could still feel a lingering slight fear of the true power of the Kaguya she had to care for.

After the Mystery Food breakfast, Tayuya and Kimimaro sat in the living room. (Tayuya had decided that her mystery food was not as creative as Kabuto's food ideas, but close.) "What're we gonna do now?" she asked herself aloud. Tayuya could see Kimimaro determining what to say by her expression and words. Finally he questioned, "Do we have any old board games?"

They did. Tayuya had found that they still had Monopoly. It had taken a while to sort it out, but after the rules were explained Tayuya and Kimimaro had blown off the game board and begun to play, Tayuya being the thimble and Kimimaro being the horse and rider. The game lasted for about 30 minutes; Tayuya couldn't seem to keep hold of her money and went bankrupt before you could say 'Collect 200 when you pass Go.'

"Well, now what do we do?" Tayuya wondered. Kimimaro sat and thought with her for a minute. "We could watch a movie," Tayuya suggested. "Which one?" Kimimaro inquired. "Well, we have that one trilogy that Kidomaru got that we never watched," Tayuya remarked. "What is it called?" Kimimaro interrogated. "I think it was 'Scary Movie' or something," Tayuya replied.

Tayuya slid a DVD into the household DVD player and pressed play before stitting back on the couch with Kimimaro. She skipped the commercials and the two watched as the movie started up.

Tayuya and Kimimaro watched the movie in almost total silence. When it finished, they watched the next, only pausing to let Tayuya make lunch before resuming, and then once that one finished they watched the third. "What did you think?" Tayuya asked afterward. Kimimaro shrugged. "They were good," he replied. Tayuya stared. "Good? Those movies were the shit! Well, who was your favourite character, then?" "Buffy," Kimimaro said confidently. Tayuya raised her eyebrows. Kimimaro looked at the clock. "You are to make me supper now," he remarked. "Great, let's get someone else to deliver us something. What do you say to Chinese?" Kimimaro nodded curtly. "Satisfactory." "Awesome," the kunoichi said as she picked up the phone and dialed the Chinese food joint. "'Sup guys, this is the house of the Sound..." Tayuya glanced over at Kimimaro. They had always addressed their group by who was in action. First there had been six: Kimimaro, Tayuya, Sakon, Ukon, Kidomaru and Jiroubou. Then Ukon was forced to share Sakon's body, and they were the Five. Then Kimimaro got sick, and they were four. Now Kimimaro and Ukon were back, along with Tayuya, and they were all that remained. "...Six, and we want just the deal thing for two. You know where we live," Tayuya continued before hanging up. She looked over at Kimimaro. "They said fifteen minutes," she informed as she walked over to him and looked up at him. Kimimaro was taller than her by about a foot, but she figured that she had a bigger ego. "Why are you not using the food that Kabuto specified for?" Kimimaro inquired. Tayuya stared at him. "That shit woulda fucked you up more than you already are," she stated.

Twently minutes later, the food arrived. Tayuya practically danced to the table before ripping open the lid of the sweet and sour chicken balls. She had already stuffed half of them in her mouth by the time Kimimaro had gotten to the table. "Ish good sho dohn oo wereh bou wah bootoh shesh," she informed him with a full mouth. Kimimaro ignored her and took the vegetables into consideration. Tayuya shrugged and finished off the sweet and sour chicken balls as Kimimaro dug in. He ate neatly, using hashis, but Tayuya used he hands. She could see him mentally sighing at her lack of etiquette but didn't care as she stole some of his vegetables from literally right under his nose.

After supper, Tayuya and Kimimaro had nothing to do, so they just sat around the living room. "Dammit, I should be training right now! We have _nothing_ to do at home!" Tayuya yelled. "Well," Kimimaro said slowly, "What do normal teenagers do?" "Drink and have sex," Tayuya muttered. "I meant what do normal teenagers of the _Sound_ do?" he clarified. "Drink and fight," Tayuya replied in a cheerier tone, implying that she would rather be drinking and brawling than drinking and reproducing. "Damn Leaf nins," Tayuya said randomly. Kimimaro nodded in agreement. "It was an insult to send kids like that after us! And then we had to act like we lost so we could take a different route to the Sound to escort that Sasuke boy!" Tayuya shouted fervently. Kimimaro simply nodded again. Then Tayuya paused for a moment to calm herself down before asking, "Speaking of those bastards, why did you threaten to kill me if I didn't hold them both back?" "Why were you frightened to see me?" Kimimaro retaliated quietly. Neither said anything for a minute, then Tayuya said, "I wasn't scared, I was surprised." "I was simply trying to motivate you," Kimimaro answered. Again they sat in silence, then heard the door quietly creak open. Looking back over her shoulder, Tayuya saw that it was Ukon, still in his pyjamas. "UKON! WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU DOING OUTSIDE IN YOUR PYJAMAS?" she shouted. Tentatively, Ukon smiled.

"Truth, dare, double dare, promise-to-repeat, rainbow or chicken or go?" Tayuya drilled Ukon. They had decided that with the addition of Ukon, they had enough people to play Truth or Dare instead of sit around. "Dare," he affirmed. "Flush your head down the toilet," Tayuya said gleefully. Grumbling, Ukon was followed by Tayuya and Kimimaro into the bathroom, where he fulfilled his dare satisfactorily. "That good enough?" he asked with a glare, but Tayuya could tell that he didn't really mind. They sat back down in a circle, Ukon's hair dripping, and he questioned Kimimaro, "Okay, Kimi, truth, dare, double dare, promise-to-repeat, rainbow or chicken or go?" Kimimaro blinked. He rarely ever played this game with them, and Tayuya knew that he didn't know what half of the choices were. "What is this 'rainbow' you speak of?" he asked. "He said rainbow! He said rainbow!" Tayuya said gleefully. "Rainbow means you have to take off the clothes you're wearing of the colour I name," Ukon explained, then thought fdor a minute. "Black," he proclaimed. Hesitantly, Kimimaro removed his pants. In her mind, Tayuya was singing. On the outside, though, she was snickering. Kimimaro sat there with a slightly perturbed look on his face, his robe only covering part of his legs. He was sitting in a kneeling position and had his hands holding down his robe. He was blushing slightly, but his stoic expression didn't change as he asked Tayuya, "Truth, dare, double dare, promise-to-repeat, rainbow or chicken or go?" "Truth." She had nothing to hide. "What are you looking for in a man?" he questioned. "Yeah, Tayuya, tell us!" Ukon coaxed. Now it was Tayuya's turn to blush. "I want... Uh... A ninja?" Tayuya tried, then gaining confidence, continued, "Someone strong, and well equipped, if you know what I mean." Ukon laughed. "Well, Kimimaro, for that, truth, dare, double dare, promise-to-repeat, rainbow or chicken or go?" Tayuya added. "Truth," he replied. "What do _you_ want in a _girl?"_ Tayuya quizzed. Kimimaro thought for a minute, then tentatively said, "Powerful. Determined... Well-endowed..." This time, both Tayuya and Ukon roared with laughter. "Well-endowed? Who would've expected _that_?" Tayuya said hysterically. "Kaguya Kimimaro. Stoic. Strong. Sexual," Ukon joked. This time, Kimimaro was distinctly blushing.

That night, as Tayuya lay half awake in bed, she caught herself thinking, 'Dammit, I have small boobs!'

-

Sorry that it took so long for me to update, and with a bad chapter at that. I had a hard time writing this one. But things are going to start speeding up soon.

Yay, review reply time.

Koru-chan: I enjoyed your input muchly. I figured that my time switches were confusing, and while I didn't stop them this chapter, I will try to have them down by the next chapter. I don't have a spellcheck on my writing program, and though I'm a good speller I'm a bad typist. Also, I meant to have translations but I forgot. - I am getting my japanese from jim breen's japanese-english dictionary, so things like 'dzu' (which confused me, because i know of the lack of a 'dzu' in japanese) are not entirely my fault. I am trying to keep the characters IC, but as you can see I do slip up. As the story progresses and the characters become more themselves and are fleshed out they will become either more IC or OOC with reason.

As for everyone else: Yay thank you for reading my fic and ladyvirgo I am happy that you are starting to like Ukon and Kimimaro. As Michael Jackson said, I guess I'm not alone.

RR!


	5. A Mission

Tayuya woke up the next morning with a note taped to her face. '_You have a mission with Kimimaro today. Come to Orochimaru for details. Leave Ukon alone. DON'T TELL HIM ABOUT THE MISSION. Signed, Kabuto.' _"Finally, a mission," Tayuya grumbled as she stood up and got dressed. "It was about damn time."

Once she was dressed, Tayuya went into the kitchen to discover that Kimimaro had already gone to go meet Orochimaru. She could tell because the first one up made breakfast, and they used colour-coded bowls according to who was cooking. A white bowl held her Fruit Loops soaked in orange juice today. After devouring her favourite breakfast, Tayuya strolled over to Orochimaru's headquarters.

Orochimaru's Shack, as the Sound Six called it, or just The Shack, was a siginificant distace out of the village, which Tayuya had learned was because of the fact that traitors, spies and outsiders could sometimes be heard as they were experimented on. Tayuya entered the structure with a feeling of pride as she thought of how diligently her master protected the village.

"Hello, Tayuya," Orochimaru greeted her as she entered his 'throne room'. Tayuya immediately crouched on the floor, looking at the ground. "Orochimaru-sama," she replied. She stood up and nodded to Kimimaro, who was standing beside Orochimaru who began to speak. "You and Kimimaro are going on a mission today to our western border to fight some ninja who are trying to invade from there. I do hope that even though the nin are not Genin anymore, you can handle them?" "We will not disappoint you," Tayuya spoke clearly as she looked her master in the eye. Orochimaru smiled. Tayuya knew that it was a great honor to be allowed to see him smile, and that only the Sound Six and Kabuto usually ever saw it happen. "Very well, then. You may go," Orochimaru dismissed, and Tayuya and Kimimaro left the room together. "Well, are you ready for the mission? I loaded up before I left the damn house because I knew we were probably leaving the damn village. But are you sure you're okay so soon after recovery?" Tayuya interrogated. Kimimaro merely nodded and tied his Sound headband around his neck. Tayuya secured her own around her helmet. Most Sound nin only wore their headbands outside of the Village. Kidomaru had been one of the only exceptions.

"Tayuya, what is 'Chicken or Go?'" Kimimaro asked her once they were a ways out of the Sound. "It's a game where two people put their hands on a part of the other person's body. If you are placing your hand on a girl, you put your hand on her waist and on a boy, you use his knee. Then you get a choice of Chicken or Go. Go means you move your hand up their leg or body, and when you get high enough you grab either the girl's boob or the guy's dick. If you pick Chicken, you lose the game. The object of the game isnotto Chicken out," Tayuya explained. Kimimaro was quiet for a minute, then said finally, "I was going to pick that last night to see what it was, but after Rainbow I wasn't prepared for anything new."

Evening was approaching as Tayuya and Kimimaro reached their destination and they heard the voices from beyond the trees. "Do you think those dumb Sound Ninja even know we're here?" one of them asked. "Probably not, they're probably too busy kissing Orochimaru'scrotch to notice," another jeered. There was laughter from three people heard. Tayuya didn't even have to look at Kimimaro to know what he would want to do. Silently, they snuck up behind the trio and readied themselves. Kimimaro made himself a pair of bone katanas to use as Tayuya put her flute to her mouth and began to play. She watched the ninjas turned around to stare at the kunoichi and demon summon while Kimimaro vanished into the woods. 'Too late, shitheads,' she thought as Kimimaro took one out and her demon did the same. The lastshinobi fell to both blows. Tayuya walked up to the dying nin and spat on his body, yelling, "How's this for kissing ass, huh? Beg for your shitty life and I might give it to you." The nin looked up at her as he died, and the last thing he saw was Tayuya leaving, saying, "No, I'm just fucking with ya."

"That was too damn simple. Why did Orochimaru give us such an easy misson? Does he think we're gonna fuck everything else up or something?" Tayuya asked as they headed home later angrily. "I do not know," Kimimaro replied. For a long time, neither of them did anything, then Tayuya commented, "You did well today." To Tayuya's pleasure, this seemed to startle Kimimaro, who said, "You too," which, in turn,surprised Tayuya.

Tayuya remembered that comment as she slipped on her pyjamas, and slept well that night.

-

Yes, I was gone for a very long time. I apologize. Since I cannot respond to my reviews anymore, I will just say thank you for reviewing since each one is a source if inspiration.

I hope you all know how tempted I was to put Orochimaru saying, "I do hope that even though the nin are not Genin anymore, you can handle them, my sweets?" instead of what I actually put.

And, from last chapter, Promise-To-Repeat is when you repeat everything the other person says until they tell you to stop.


	6. A Day Of Training

Tayuya woke up to the sound of singing and realized that her alarm was going off. "Damn fucking pop music," Tayuya muttered as she turned her alarm off and got out of bed. She rooted around in her dresser to find clothes, then brushed her hair and rode the banister down the stairs to breakfast. A blue bowl held her Fruit Loops this morning, and she briefly wondered what Ukon was doing before wolfing down her cereal.

Training that day was mostly uneventful. Tayuya neglected her flute in favour of Taijutsu and Ninjutsu work. She had to become a well-rounded ninja so that she could do Orochimaru and her country good. Besides, she had a lot of chakra that she wanted to learn to use; her chakra amount was one of the reasons that Orochimaru had liked her.

That night, when Tayuya walked into the house, she saw Ukon curled up on the couch, watching television. "Hey, what's up?" she asked. "Jerry Springer," he replied. "What're they doing now?" she quizzed, sitting beside him on the chair. "Yelling at each other. Apparently this guy is mad because his lesbian wife is sleeping with his mom, who was sleeping with him also," Ukon responded. "Wow. Is Kimimaro home?" Tayuya asked. "Nope." "..." "..." "Wow, look at that fat lady go!"

Once Jerry Springer was over, the two Otonin ordered pizza, and once that had arrived, they ate it, discussing general things in their lives. "So, where did you go today?" Tayuya asked casually. "Oh, walked around town, trained," Ukon said vaguely. "You?" "Trained. Did Kimimaro say where he was going?" Tayuya questioned. "Kimimaro? Haven't seen him today," Ukon stated. "Wonder where he went?" Tayuya mused. "Oh, who cares? We're better off without him. He was just stealing our spotlight anyway," Ukon kidded.

Tayuya brushed her teeth and put on her pyjamas that night, but her mind was not on this everyday ritual as she slipped into bed. It was only a matter of courtesy when you lived in a house of six -- three, Tayuya corrected herself, -- to leave a note saying where you were going if you were going for a long time. It was an unspoken rule between them. Even the illiterate Tayuya managed to dredge up a note before going out. So why was Kimimaro gone so long without saying where he was?

'Maybe he'll be back tomorrow...' Tayuya thought as she drifted off to sleep.

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Sorry this chapter is short, but things will speed up in the story soon.


	7. Kimimaro On The Mind

_Fingernails scratching. A short yelp, and a figure curled into a ball. A short cracking sound, and another yelp. The person going to look up..._

_--------_

Tayuya woke up, not to her alarm, but to sunlight streaming in through the window. Groaning, she stretched, then got dressed and went down for breakfast. She appeared to be the first one up. Great, time to put her abysmal cooking skills to use. Eggs and Noodles for Ukon, Fruit Loops and Orange Juice for her herself, and for Kimimaro... Wait, he wasn't here. Tayuya frowned. "Fucktard," she murmured to herself as she cooked.

Once Tayuya was done cooking, she admired her work. Not too bad, this time. She placed Ukon's serving in its orange bowl onto the table, then ate her own voraciously. As she put her bowl in the dishwasher, she decided to ask Kabuto if Kimimaro had been sent on a mission. He would know, after all.

----

Tayuya walked into Orochimaru's home and admired it as she went. Mostly stone. Once you got far enough in, there were some wall hangings too. She passed by various rooms where you could hear the occupants within; sometimes they were screaming in pain, other times, sobbing with relief. Sometimes she wondered who the people within were, but other times she knew that it didn't pay to go in and look. Once she had recognized the yells. She had seen Kabuto leave these rooms before, too, wiping blood off of his hands.

As if on cue, Kabuto walked out of a sobber's room, wiping blood off of his hands and whistling. "Hello, Tayuya," he said casually. "'Sup, shithead," she greeted, "What the fuck were you doing in there?" "Oh, this and that. What brings you here? You have no missions today," he responded, then inquired. "I was wondering if Kimimaro was on a mission or something," Tayuya questioned, trying to sound casual. "Kimimaro? No. Why do you ask? Making plans?" Kabuto asked with a twinkle in his eye. "Oh, shut the hell up," Tayuya growled. Kabuto laughed.

'Where could he be?' Tayuya wondered as she trained. She knew that she shouldn't be worrying about him so much, and that he was a ninja and that he would probably be fine, but she also knew that he always told them when he was going away for a long time. Why would this time be any different?

'Better question: _Why _are you worrying about him so much?' Tayuya nearly fell off of the tree at that thought. 'Is it because you... Like him?' 'NO! It's because he's my teammate and I have a right to be worried about him.' 'Yeah, right.'

Tayuya entered the house that night completely exhausted. She took some bread and jam from the fridge, which she made toast with, then walked up to bed. After shifting into her nightwear and brushing her teeth, she was about to go to bed when a thought occurred to her: What if Kimimaro had never left his room? Sighing, she left her room, walked down the hall to his and knocked on the door. "Kimimaro, ya in there?" she inquired. No response. "Kimimaro?" she asked again. Nothing. She opened the door and entered his room...

The room was practically spotless. The floor was spotless. The walls were spotless, The dresser was spotless. Even the bed wasn't made. Wait... That wasn't like Kimimaro.

Tayuya walked over to the messy sleeping spot and sat on it to think. Why wouldn't Kimimaro make his bed when he left, and without telling them he was going? It didn't make sense that the very person that would shake her awake after tidying his sleeping bag to tell her that he was going into the woods to relieve himself in the middle of the night on missions would just disappear like that. She knew full well, that it was probably an overreaction, but still. Tayuya put her head on his pillow as she pondered this.

Her head didn't even touch the pillow before she realized what she was doing and shot up again. As Tayuya shifted the bed, she heard a tinkle from beneath the pillow. Hoping that she hadn't cracked a picture again, she lifted up his pillow. The picture of him as a young child was completely shattered. She hadn't done that, had she? No, she hoped not. And he wouldn't have done it, he could usually control his temper.

'I am definitely asking Orochimaru tomorrow if he knows where Kimimaro is,' she thought as she went back to her room to her own bed.

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Things will hopefully start to speed up now. Yes, I know no one reads this story.


	8. The Eradication

Tayuya was barely awake when she realized that she was eating breakfast. 'How did I get down here?' she asked herself as she finished her cereal. She stared bewilderedly at the orange juice and fruit loops sitting on the tabletop for a minute before coming out of her reverie and putting each respective item where it was supposed to go. "Well, I might as well go see Orochimaru now about Kimimaro," Tayuya muttered to herself after a moment of debate over what to do next. "Wow, you didn't even swear when you said that," Ukon commented as he entered the kitchen. "Oh, fuck off," Tayuya retaliated as while stomping out of the kitchen.

Tayuya was going to let her mind wander on the way to Orochimaru's mansion, but she decided not to after she realized where and on whom it was wandering.

The creaking of the door into her master's lair soothed Tayuya as she opened it without hesitation upon her arrival. It was comforting to her to know that no matter how much changed, --or who, she thought with a pang if sadness when Sakon's face flashed through her mind,-- Orochimaru would always be a constant. Even on the day she died, Orochimaru would always be sitting in his properly unnerving mansion handing out missions and doing his tests. He would still be seeking a way to further himself and his country when Tayuya had faded into an unnamed face in an old photograph that was tossed in the garbage some fifty years down the road, and he would still be giving out Curse Seals when that Uchiha brat had come and gone in his favour. The walls would wear down and the bodies would wear out, but Orochimaru was forever, and Tayuya couldn't help but smile as she walked off towards the very man she thought of. Well, other than Kimimaro.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Tayuya. What are you doing here?" Kabuto remarked when she met up with him just outside the door to Orochimaru's throne room. "I've come to talk to Orochimaru, but if you're, uh, 'busy' with him, then I can wait," she replied cattily. "Tayuya, I am above letting that kind of humour affect me," he said as he folded his arms. "Just like you were 'above' Orochimaru?" she questioned, laughing, as she pushed past him to enter Orochimaru's throne room.

Tayuya let the door sway shut behind her as she immediately dropped to the floor in a bow. "I am sorry for disturbing you, Orochimaru-sama," she murmured. "Very well. What do you want, Tayuya?" he queried. "I-I just want to know if you know where Kimimaro is," Tayuya said, stumbling over her question, suddenly feeling ashamed of asking the Otokage such an irrelevant question. "Kimimaro...?" Orochimaru pondered, his eyes raised towards the ceiling. Tayuya waited suspensefully for him to answer. Finally, her master lowered his eyes to look at her and said clearly, "No, I don't know where he is." The kunoichi's heart dropped. "Oh... I am sorry for wasting your time, Orochimaru-sama," she said as she got up and left the room just as Kabuto entered.

The door had barely closed, and Tayuya had just begun to walk away, when she heard Kabuto say, "Was she asking about Kimimaro, master?" Tayuya stopped, waiting for the response. "Yes," Orochimaru said, and then, as an afterthought, "I didn't think anyone would care that I had him eradicated." Eradicate? Tayuya didn't know what that meant, but it didn't sound good. Had Orochimaru lied to her? "With all due respect, sir, if you've heard her talk for very long, then you must know that Tayuya isn't anyone," Kabuto stated. Tayuya didn't hear anymore. She ran out of the building and all of the way back home with her mind focused on what she had just heard.

_**Eradicate **/i-**rad**-i-kayt/ -v. (**eradicates, eradicating, eradicated)** remove or destroy completely _

_- DERIATIVES eradication n. eradicator n. _

_- ORIGIN Latin eradicare 'tear up by the roots'_

Tayuya stared down at the meaning in Jiroubou's old dictionary, and it stared back up at her. Orochimaru had Kimimaro eradicated? Then that meant...

She thought a lot about Orochimaru and Kimimaro after that, and decided that if he would do it to Kimimaro, then she was next. She would warn Ukon, but she knew that what she did next would divert attention from him. And as Tayuya trained that afternoon, it was for a different purpose and with a different vigour than usual. She would find out where Kimimaro was -- she owed it to him, she kept telling herself, but she knew that that wasn't the reason -- and she would determine what to do about him from there. And after that... Would Orochimaru really kill her, or was it a brutality reserved for Kimimaro? She would find out. And when she did, she prayed that she would make the right decision.

--------------------------------------------

Thank you all for the kind reviews, and Marthroyboy, you inspired me to put up this chappie right after I read it. And I must ask: should I mix this with Polonaise and the other stories of the Sound that I have planned, or should this story be independent? I know that you might really believe in some pairings, and might have problems with the pairings they feature. If you can email me about that, that'd be divine. Thanks again!


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